New Changes

Wow what a week.... I am still not near as ready as I would like to be. Too many things to get done in too little time. I feel like I'm throwing things here to there.
I have finally accomplished getting our moving announcements done. :) Yeah. That seemed like it took forever. Its funny though as I always relocate to the same address in Ohio every few years due to Gil's military stuff. I still have old address labels so I don't have to get any more of those made up ;)

My hubby and I finally decided to combine our email accounts. OUCH :) He has always had an AKO and I have always had so many I cant keep straight so we combined all into one. I have to tell you its kind of weriod when logging into our new account and see his titled mail there. I'm not so use to sifting though to find my stuff, but I'm sure I will get the hang of it over time.

My daycare comes to a closing tomorrow :(. I have struggled all week with it. Last night I think I cried my way though the night. Wondering if some of the kids were going to transition OK with their new caregivers. I have one baby especially that I am nervous about, but I know she'll do OK. Her new caregiver is allowing me to put my notes together about her daily schedule and things, she like/dislikes ect so that makes me feel better about it. Another one of my children are going to be going to my Back up sitters house so that's a good transition too for her since they are comfortable together.
My mommies from the daycare threw a going away get together on Tuesday evening. It was a great evening. The kids all had a wonderful time.

From here on outs its fast moving for us. Tomorrows Dean's last day of school, my last day for my daycare, Saturday's taken up as we will be going to get our Abby for the summer :) Yeah. The kids are so excited to see her. Sundays are last day to say our goodbyes and finalize my packing I WANT done and Monday the movers come. Tuesday is OFF on the road as soon as the movers load and carpet cleaners leave.

I'm sure when we finally get back to Ohio I will be able to breath again. i hope

A new Diaper !!!!!!

WOW. I am excited..... I have been searching for Huggies overnights for the past few weeks. I had used my last one and have had a hard time trying to find them again. Walmart and the PX are having a hard time keeping them in. Tonight we were in walmart and there on the shelf was a big box of Pampers Extra Protection. I am so excited. They are good for over nights and for long car ride. PERFECT. That's just what I am looking for. Princess Diana has to still be changed during the night as she pees alot. I guess if we didn't put her to bed with a drink we would be ok, but she will yell if we don't give it to her. LOl. Not her problem. Its ours.
Tonigth I am trying them out for the first time. I am so excited.

Changes

To many changes are happening a bit too fast for me right now. We are at the end of Gilbert's military career, I am with in the week of closing my daycare, we start the summer with in the week with all three kids, and we will be moving in a little over a week. Its all happening at one time and its becoming a little bit overwhelming for me. I have stayed on top of my daily lists crossing them off and getting things accomplished but it seems that I am getting a little behind. My clean organized house is not i a hundred little pieces. I need to get it all straight for my work week starting Tuesday.
Its not going to be easy this week for my daycare. The emotions are already running for me. There is one baby girl whom we have just fallen in love with. She reminds us of our Diana. I keep finding myself saying, I wont see her walk, I wont see her in her prime over the next few years, hearing her talk. Gilbert has become very fond of her. He usually runs right over to her every morning, at at nap time and then when he comes home from work. Its different from all the other babies that I have had. Its going to be rough. Theres another little girl a few years older than Diana but Diana just loves her. I keep hearing her sweet voice in my head. I hope that keeps on as well to. Shes a ray of sunshine and she makes you smile.
I have been job interviewing since last week. Its gone great but trying to pick up the right situation for me is very difficult. I have had great offers and many opportunities but not one is 100 % perfect . Its going to be much different from what I am doing now. Now I have my Kids with me all the time( except when deans at school) . When I go back to work I will not have them with me. I have never done that before. Its going to be a struggle for me and for the kids. I am not sure how well we will all adjust to it but we will have to find a way.

MEN

Today My husband was off to the post office. Diana wanted to go with him and so did Deano. I was handing the mail off to my husband and told him that Dean will be going too. He looked at me with panic in his face and said. I cant take both kids into the post office. LOL. I looked right and at him and said well why not. I take them both in there every time and I take both of them everywhere I go. He then says "well how do I do it". Oh brother. LOL. I said well honey take the stroller and put Princess Di into it and you'll be just fine.
Needless to say Daddy , Deano and, Di made it home ok .

Still sorting though

Are we there yet? This is a Fraze my parent heard over and over again on long road trips. Ha maybe short ones too. If I never see the inside of our garage again I will be happy. However, we have almost cleaned out the Junk. My husband emptied out 7 trunks of old things and we have now combined them into one trunk for him. YIPEEEE. I'm so excited. I have been down sizing for years. First the move to OK, then the Move to Ohio, Then the move to OK, then the move to TX, now the move to OH and I think we have it handled. Oh sorry mom I know I still have all that stuff there too. Don't worry we'll down size again before we find our new home. :)
Most of my things i needed to clear out are the kids old clothes, toys, home decor we haven't used in a while. My rule of thumb has now become anything we have not used in the past 12 months needs to go. I have that all handled now. I will garage sale and then free cycle the rest. I love Garage sales. All the neat people you meet. The kids have fun too. Dean likes to give out cool aid. Its always great when there is a toy that has not been played with in over a year and you've tired so hard to get them to like it and they just don't. When you try to sell that toy the child has a moment break down. MY FAVORITE TOY.. :)
I my hubby finally has downsized his stuff. Just old junk really. Kept the sentimental stuff letters from his family while deployed, pictures, collector things ect. Finally got him to get ride of all the deployment Pretty looking things hidden in the chest :) WHOHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO. I didn't even have to say a thing. It was just in the trash.
So while he added to the garage sale pile tonight a couple things made it over there that came from a past of his. Well this can go he says. My instincts because I am the kind at heart always wants to make the best of things kind of person, wants to go to old owner and say here you go you left this behind and I thought You might like to have it. But number one it might upset my husband and number two I have always tried so hard on communication and getting along ( with occasional parental disagreements) and when you get someone who basically says FU I'm not dealing with you your nothing why would I go out of my way to be so gracious. As i know if it was the other person it would be in the trash already. I don't know I will sit on it for a while. I'm just not a deceitful person and trys to see the best in everyone. We'll see.....
I will be getting rid of a few of my daycare things as I am not sure yet what I am going to do . I have had a few great phone interview but I am unsettled at going to work and having my husband or family take care of our children. Very emotional topic for me now a days. My husband will be going to school and I will be going to work and in between we with both juggle our schedule and raise the kids.
It would be just so less complicated if we would have just stayed in. or at least for me....

Packing Packing Packing

I finally think we are getting organized. It was an accomplishment last night to get my husband out in the garage to go though all his totes. We need to get rid of old stuff that we do not need anymore. HMMMMM. Did we really need 8 totes of Old paper products. We have had a good time though going though the totes. We found old pictures , letters from when he was in Iraq, kids drawings, things we didn't know where in there.
I was going to go out and buy some more Rubbermaid tubs before we move but I wont have to do that now. I am packing up all of our things that we will be taking to my parents house in Rubbermaid containers. The mover can come pack up the rest of the house. All of the office supplies are ready to go, anything pertaining to child development or my in home child care in all packed and ready to go, all art supplies are packed and ready to go. All of my winter clothes are ready to go. LOL do I really need two Hugh containers of winter clothes :)All of Abby's totes are ready to to. I have found two things that have been driving me crazy the past few months. The first was a missing slipper of Abby's. We looked everywhere for it. I had to move our personal dryer in the garage and there behind the dryer was her slipper. She will be so excited. I bought her another pair over spring break because I couldn't find her other slipper. I then was going crazy with this sock I could not find. It wasn't in the wash, it wasn't under beds, it wasn't in a drawer. Well I found it in Abby's toy box. LOL. It never amazing me all the places in the world and it was in there. I am just glad I found that darn thing.
I will work on all of the kids winter clothes this weekend. We are getting closer to moving day. I'd like to get some of these books packed and toys but with my day care still open until the 29th its just not possible. OH Well.

His Memory Still Amazes Me

My 5 year old son still amazes me every day. I am not sure how he remembers so much from year to year. Little things that I don't pay too much attention too he does. Big things I miss in a picture he see. I was talking to my mom today about us moving back there for a while after my husband transitions out of the military. She is working very hard at getting everything ready :0) Thanks mom.
It will be very different now as there will be 5 of us moving back in for while. I know it will be ok. My parents have 4 bedroom 3 bath home with a decent sized kitchen , a dining room, family room, formal living room, basement and a large yard. There will be enough room for all of us with out stepping on each other.
We were going over the rules at grandma's house tonight at diner. I was talking about how the food stays in the kitchen, grandmas new furniture and how we take good care of it, and then where we will play and keep tidy our toys so we don't disrupt grandma and grandpa too much.
I told Dean that Grandma still has his posters hanging on the walls in the basement. He was so excited. He said DAD,(forgetting daddy has been there) you have to see them I have Spider man, Transformers, cars, ect. How he remembers the posters I have no idea. I guess with us moving around so much its his things that we leave behind from time to time that he misses and remembers.

The Good Old Country Life

With a new move ahead of us and a house hunting search in our future I can only daydream about my new house. My husband wants some rustic furniture and land. That's all he asks for. Thinking about what rustic furniture will go well with I see us living out in the country. I would love to have a log home that sits far back off the road enclosed with lots of trees.Very up scale. I can see us driving up our long driveway looking at our porch with our rocking chairs made from wood that my husband made.
When I hear the word rustic furniture I think about enormous handmade beds,dressers, mirrors, kitchen tables, end tables, TV stands, picture frame, made from twine and wood. To me rustic furniture a natural artwork and is created in the hands of a great artist.
I can envision my husband making our daughters first big girl bed out of the wood from our own back yard. He loves to dwindle in the wood in the garage.
With my husband getting out of the military now I think it would be a great class for him to take " wood working" so he can get to work on my new rustic furniture dreams.
rustic furniture

Drying Clothes the Slow Way

Over the past few weeks I thought something was going on with my dryer. It would take me a few cycles to get the clothes completely dry. I just thought that since there was a Hugh pile of laundry to be ironed I was not setting the dial the right way. My husband was finishing up his laundry last week for work and it took him 3 cycles to attempt to dry them. In the end He had to hang his gear out to dry.
Needless to day I have been drying clothes outside ever since.
I am not too good at drying clothes outside. Things fall off and onto the ground, bugs get on my clothes and then I just cant bear to wear anything. I went out and bought a clothes drying shelf. Its great. No more clothes will fall to the ground. It will be much better I thought to myself. I bought 4 bottles of fabric softener so I could keep the clothes soft. Well sad to say it was not helping. All the clothes were still hard as cardboard when they dried. I just could not figure out what was going on. All I knew was that I was darn sure the Whirlpool guys had better get out here quick and fix my dryer.
Today being as fed up as I was I decided to look on the back of the bottle of the fabric softener and see if there was any tricks to get my clothes softer. Well low and behold right in the first set of directions it says. DO NOT ADD TO THE CLOTHES. ADD THE FABRIC SOFTENER IN THE FINAL RINSE. Well I'll be dog gone. I was adding the fabric softener into the washer at the beginning. I would first put the clothes in, add the laundry detergent, add the water, then add the detergent.
Finally I put the fabric softener into the the rinse cycle and what do you know, I have soft clothes again :) GO ME.

The Delicious Smell of Paul Sebastians Design Perfume

A long time ago my husband asked me why I only wear the same perfume everyday. I use to wear Eternity and Curve for women. After a few years of wearing those perfumes it was time for a change. I wanted something that was not strong and would last me all day. I once knew a women who wore the most delicious scent of perfume. I will always remember smelling it on her all the time. When I went out to change my perfume one day I came across Paul Sebastian's Design for women. Ever since that day it was simple. I love Paul Sebastian's Design Perfume. That's all there is to it.
I wanted a scent that will last me all day long. Design perfume is a soft refreshing floral fragrance. This is definitely a feminine fragrance.
Usually a few times a month someone will ask me, what perfume are you wearing? Design by Paul Sebastian I tell them. That makes me feel good that someone else smells it and loves it too. This is the only fragrance that when I where it so many people stop me and ask what I'm wearing. This doesn't happen with any other fragrance. I just love it! I get compliments from both men and women!
The best thing about Paul Sebastian's is after a few minutes, you won't smell it, but everyone else will, and the scent lasts all day! I wear it all the time.
Now before we go out anywhere I see my husband putting a little dab of it on our 18 month old. She's following in her mommy's footsteps:) Nothing can be the long lasting delicious smell of Paul Sebastian's Design Perfume. If you haven't tried it out you should. You do not know what your missing.
chrome cologne

Finalized moving plans

Well its official . We have just finished booking our move. They will be here on June 1st. I'm still excited nor am i excited. I'm kind of in the middle of BLAH.
I am sure we will spread the move back over a 3 day period of time. LOL. My husband however thinks we will be driving over night. I'm the worst night driver ever. We will both be driving our own vehicles back.

Leaving my business, my friends, Gils leaving his job its kind of scare. However I am excited to be with my family, My FRIENDS...... and I will find a job just a little nerve racking right now. I think my hubby has decided to go to school. I think hes making the right decision. In order to survive in this world now you need an education. The new post GI bill is really nice. It will be nice for that.

Busy weekend

Tonight kicks off the rabbit fest here in the Cove. Dean is so excited. The rides have been going up for a few days, the food stands are all up and I saw the craft stands today :) So excited. Oh yes and the Rabbits will be there of course. I hear they are big fellers. Although we don't ride the rides as I feel they are not safe, its pretty to see all the lights.
This weekend we will be in going to the Abilene zoo. We are going up sat late afternoon as we are suppose to have Gil's little girl for her birthday. We will stay at this new hotel up there so the kids can swim of course, and on Sunday the ZOO.
It will be a busy busy weekend. The kids will be tuckered. :) Us too. Diana has never been to the zoo before that she can remember so this will be much fun. Dean has been telling her all about the animal's. I'm excited.

Boo Boo Shots for Diana

Diana had her 18 month well baby check up today. Big girl . She weighs in at a whopping 22 lbs. She is in the 20th percentile for her weight and 70th percentile for her heights. We are going to have tall lean girl on our hands. Daddy's say she'll be his basketball player. She only got two shots today. Thank goodness.
Poor girl she was traumatized a few weeks ago when we took her in for her allergy testing. She got 19 pokes and then they had to draw blood on top of that. It was the most horrific thing I have gone though. Daddy didn't do so well . Today when the nurse came in and put her gloves on that's all Diana needed to see she just stared to scream. I don't blame her. So we are suppose to be good for a few years. I hope so. :)
She came home and showed my back up sitter her boo boos first thing and said ouch , ouch. lol.
She and daddy are now fast asleep , much needed rest after that.

Spray Sunblock vs Standard Sunblock

Living in Texas we sure do go through a lot of sunblock. I put it on all the kids at least 3 time a day. Last year I tried using the new aerosol sunblock. I hated it. It seems to be more messy and got everywhere. While other mommy's kept promoting it I just kept on using my squeeze bottle. This year I decided to give the spray pump sunblock a chance. I sure am glad for that. I love this stuff. I would have to say Im addicted to it. Its not greasy, not messy and its fast and easy to use. I have cut down my lathering up times in half. When you have sometimes 5 kids at a time its great to find more effective ways to use your time. The kids think its fun too which is great.

Getting Things Accomplished

My husband has the most beautiful little girl . Shes polite, quiet, smart, funny , talented and always keeps us going. I fell in love with her the moment I met her. This has been a rough year for us seeing her. Since his divorce went though it seem that the mother cant follow the orders very clear. She picks what she wants and then just ignores the rest in black ink.
We are not sure why but its just that. We have accepted the fact that that is the way it will be.
Over the past year there has been many occasions in which he was not able to have his visitation due to things going on in her mommy's life.
Now with this move coming in a few weeks and the distance between us, and the contempt's to the decree being made it was finally time to get things straight.
It will lie in the courts hands now. Thank goodness for that. I am so glad we finally got things rolling.
I just will never understand how one parent would ever want to come between a child and their other parent . Just sad. I thank god everyday for the love we have for our children and the support we can give them in everything they do. We are very blessed for that.

Shes Starting to talk

We are so very excited that Diana is really starting to talk. She loves flowers so of course her favorite word is FLOWER. She will stand in front of you trying to talk to us. We are starting to make sense of what it is. She is now in full repeat mode. What ever we say she repeats. I love you is very definite, b b for Binky, dean for dean sssssssssss for a little girl in my daycare, of course Dada and mama, water, juice, numnum for alything food. GOGOGO for everything she sees any type of sports on the television. EWWWWWWW, OUch, hot, me, my, byebye, cheese, tea. There are probably a few more that I have forgotten at the moment. Shes just getting so smart so fast. Where is our little girl going. I wish we could just free the kids at their ages.

Deans new Love

Well as Dean's getting older he finds more things to do. His new found love is for baseball. He loves to play it. We have gone though many balls and a few bats. We stand outside every night. I will pitch a few ( 20) balls to him and all I hear is MOOOOOMMMMMMMMM. LOL. So I'm not pitch :) He will say . Dad throws better than you. I thought for sure that T that I bought for Diana would come in handy for him but he still insists on me throwing. When he finally gets a good one he hits it far. He is so proud of himself. I know over the past next few months he will be able to practice more. LOl I'm really not sure that its him that needs the practice. I think its me:) Ohio will be much cooler for playing ball. Its sad to say however that we missed the sign up for baseball for this year as they start to play late May. We will be a few weeks late.

My DayCare Here is coming to an end.

This has been a rough few weeks as I have officially announced we would be moving. Its hard. I am so attached to the kids. I cant imagine to seeing them 5 days a week now. I think Diana will be lost. She is coming into her own with the little girls here. She just loves them. We love them.
The bond that I have formed with some of the parents and the children are life lasting. I gained good friends and hope to say well connected with them.
I had one Mother say to me a few weeks ago that I didn't seem to be so upset as she was that we were leaving. I am. Its just hard now. I know that first Monday and for weeks after it will be rough for me. I guess it also helps that over the next few months we will be back for some court dates so I am hoping that we can drive up though here to see some of the kids.
I know I will hear in my head a little voice by SG saying mister Gil, or ms Jennifer your daddy's here. I will miss hearing the laughter filled in my house, our morning nature walks, our circle times and the special song requests the kids give me.
I hate that this is all coming to an end but I am very proud that I have been able to know each and everyone of them.
I'll miss them :(

The Move

As the move gets close I think I'm getting a bit more nervous. I find myself organizing for the movers to come a bit more than I should. I just want this transition to go a little bit smoother than the last time.
For a few months we will be staying with my family until we get settled and get things into place. So that means all the kids toys, ect will need to be with us in one place. I want to be able just to grab the stuff we need and put the rest of it all in storage.
I have been making list after list of things we need to take with us to the house. The list is getting big . Then I worry about getting it all organized. I have a picture in my head how I think it will all play out but I know it wont happen that way.
Little Dean still does not understand the concept of the move. He still thinks that we will be leaving things behind and taking just our personal things with us. LOL. Bless his heart.
Its only a few weeks away and we'll be back home. People keep asking me if I'm excited but I haven't really been able to process that yet. I guess reality will set in once we get there and have had a few days to settle.
We'll see............